Oxbow Overlook

Oxbow Overlook is the road-end viewpoint on the North Unit Scenic Drive, looking over a broad bend in the Little Missouri River, with cottonwoods below striped badlands. It’s a defining North Unit stop if you have time for the full out-and-back; the walk is short, but reaching it means driving across the unit.

From the parking area, follow a paved, wheelchair-accessible sidewalk less than 0.1 mile to the overlook. Continue to the end of the path for the open river view rather than stopping at the lot. Interpretive waysides explain how the river’s bends form and shift. A vault toilet and a few picnic tables are by the parking area.

The Little Missouri’s curves are the point here: cottonwoods mark the valley floor, while buttes and exposed bands of sedimentary rock rise around it. This is a photo-centric stop, so frame the river with the tree line and badland layers beyond it; the broad water bend gives the view its shape.

An ancestral river in roughly the Little Missouri’s present position once flowed north toward the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers, on toward Hudson Bay. During the Ice Age, continental glaciers blocked north-flowing rivers near the park’s upper North Unit. The Little Missouri was diverted east and south toward the Mississippi. Its steeper new course ran faster, cutting into soft sedimentary rock, while tributaries carved the badlands.

Bison are often visible from the North Unit drive at any time of day. Mule deer are more often seen around dawn and dusk, and bighorn sheep may appear near steep cliff edges. Those wildlife sightings are part of the drive as much as the overlook itself.

The overlook is 14 miles out and 14 miles back from the start of the scenic drive; the park recommends at least 1 hour 15 minutes for the full route. The road follows the lower badlands, climbs to the rim near River Bend, then runs along the rim to Oxbow. It’s almost entirely paved, with one gravel stretch. The North Unit is about 50 miles from Interstate 94.